US Fencing’s announcement of the NAC schedule for the 2022/2023 season contained good news and a negative surprise for a segment of adult fencers left without a national event for the upcoming season.

NAC Locations and day schedules

The selection of NAC locations for 2022/2023 is the most equitable by far in many years. And the announcement of day schedules before the start of the season is a much needed gesture of goodwill to fencing families. Thank you USA Fencing!

FP and a whole generation of parents from the West Coast pushed hard for years for US Fencing to select locations with better flight connections and which are geographically diverse so that West Coast fencers are not always bearing the brunt of expensive flights, bad flight connections, extra missed school days, extra hotel room nights and jetlag.

We hope that with old contracts for poor locations running out, US Fencing is positioned to do much better with NAC locations in the future.

In the 2022/2023 season, US Fencing has delivered a collection of locations that have improved flight connections from most major cities compared to previous locations, Louisville notwithstanding.

Unfortunately, the pandemic and the Ukraine war’s effect on oil prices have wreaked havoc on airfares, making some of these improved locations expensive to fly to, at least, for the time being.

We do understand that the cost of renting convention centers varies substantially by location, and that some compromises are necessary. Big cities on the coasts are generally too expensive, except when a special deal comes along as with Anaheim and San Jose.

Permanent cancellation of one NAC

In an email exchange with FP, CEO Jack Gierhart confirmed to me that one NAC will be permanently removed from the annual NAC schedule.

While there is no November NAC for the 2022/2023 season, this is “due to venue availability and the inability to move previously signed agreements, we have had to stick with December for this season.”

According to Jack Gierhart, “The move to hold an event in November, with nothing in December, will begin in 2023-24.”

The permanent cancellation of the December NAC is in line with feedback US Fencing received from FP and many fencing families. There is a serious schedule conflict for many high school fencers with the December NAC occurring one week before final exams, making a NAC in December the least preferred option.

Cancellation of Division 2 and Division 3 NACs

Several factors have driven the cancellation of the three Division 2 and one Division 3 NACs from the annual NAC calendar:

• Removal of one NAC from the annual NAC calendar resulting in a re-distribution of events to the remaining NACs:

  • Y14 event from November has been moved to the October NAC, pushing out the usual Division 2 NAC event.

  • Cadet and Junior events from November have been moved to the December NAC pushing out the Veterans and Division 2 events.

    The Veterans’ NACs will take place in January and April in the 2022/2023 season.

• Division 3 event at the March NAC has been substituted with a Cadet event. The new combination of youth and cadet events at the March NAC make a lot of sense to FP since they give Y14 and Y12 fencers an additional opportunity to fence up and earn national points.

• Division 2 event at the April NAC has been substituted with a Junior event. The new combination of the Division 1 championship and Junior event enlarge the opportunities for high school and college fencers to compete in 2 events in April instead of one. The Division 2 event was an awkward fit with the Division 1 championship given the lack of overlap among the competitors.

Unfortunately, this re-shuffling of events has left a group of fencers aged between 20 and 40 rated C or lower with no NAC events during the fencing season. It is unclear if this loss is real or theoretical, at least without a closer review of how many Division 2 and Division 3 NAC competitors were adults and how many were high school fencers who signed up because they were at the NAC for age group events.

Suggested Solution

US Fencing should seriously consider creating a new NAC category for adult fencers aged 20 to 40, and embed this new event within the Veterans’ NACs. This would be the right thing to do as it is very unfair and not in the spirit of inclusiveness to leave a group of fencers without any NACs to look forward to during the season.

With strict age limitations, the new event would have a smaller field than the regular Division 2 and Division 3 NACs which are open to fencers aged 13 and up. The resources needed to accommodate the new event would not be as substantial as reinstating the Division 2 and 3 NACs.

Note: We understand that the Division 1A, Division 2 and Division 3 championships at Summer Nationals remain in place.